and began to weep during his prayer, blowing out his breath and saying: “My Lord, did You not promise me that You would not punish them while I am among them and they seek forgiveness? And we seek Your forgiveness” (1). He wept when he sat at the grave of one of his daughters (2). He would also sometimes weep during the night prayer.

There are several kinds of weeping:

First: weeping out of compassion and tenderness.

Second: weeping out of fear and reverence.

Third: weeping out of love and longing.

Fourth: weeping out of joy and delight.

Fifth: weeping out of anguish when something painful occurs and one cannot bear it.

Sixth: weeping out of sorrow. The difference between this and weeping out of fear is that sorrowful weeping concerns something past—something distressing that happened or something cherished that was lost—whereas fearful weeping concerns the prospect of such things happening in the future. The difference between weeping out of delight and joy and weeping out of sorrow is that tears of delight are cool and the heart is joyful, whereas tears of sorrow are hot